Gambling News

"Online betting has replaced office pools when it comes to placing bets on college basketball."

Forget about taking a ticket in the office pool. When it comes to college basketball tournaments where wagers are apt to get pretty serious, sports gamblers are betting online these days. According to forecast statistics from the nationwide paper, USA Today, gamblers will wager between $1 and $1.3 billion over the Internet on the NCAA Tournament this year.

There are enormous implications for the tournament because of the huge amount of money involved. And according to the American Gaming Association, 12 million people gambled online in 2003, some 4.5 million of them from the U.S. and the remaining 7.5 million from other countries. While those numbers may seem almost negligible compared to global populations, they are major in terms of the impact they can have on the NCAA Tournament. And in addition, this can start a whole lot of trouble.

With the astronomical amounts of money involved, and the huge number of people who will have vested interests in the results of the games, there is a real fear that the chances of players yielding to blackmail, bribery, or temptation of any sort to influence the result of the game, are heightened significantly. This potential risk has led to widespread uncertainties about the ability to maintain the integrity of the sport. There will always be suspicions about the results of a game and whether or not it was fixed or manipulated.

The NCAA itself is growing increasingly nervous about the fact, but there is very little they can do about it. Neither can the federal government or the courts since online gambling sites are normally registered outside of U.S. jurisdiction, usually in countries where they are legal. The only law in place in the U.S. that could possibly address the problem, the federal Wire Act of 1961, was originally written to prohibit people from using phone lines to place wagers and does not really cover Internet gambling.

The entrepreneurs and casinos are becoming bolder and online gaming sites are jumping on the bandwagon and making it easier and easier to place bets online. New software and technology allows players to place bets simply by moving currency via cell phones, computers, and PDAs and completely eliminating the need for cash, checks, or credit card transactions. In addition, bets can be placed before or during games, as well as on the score or on game statistics.

The OffShore Gaming Association is doing its best to monitor the industry but it cannot give any guarantee that will offer protection. They suggest that the betters should do the research, learn the basics, and generally be awake. They also urge betters to check to see how close to home or to the opposition’s home the tournament games will be played and check the team’s track record.

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